Holidays and so....

For the first time during our studies here in Blenheim, we are able to enjoy a bit of a holiday. However, when you work in the wine industry 'holiday' is close to non-existent, especially during vintage. The planning of this break could therefore have been better. Since my 'partners in crime' were out of town/country for a while, I was on my own monitoring our two drums of red wine - our rose and our three individual whites. So, every day I go to school around 10am to check the levels of sugar in the whites, that are in the middle of fermentation (in short: that's the conversion of sugars into alcohol with the help of yeast).When the sugar level is at the desired level you have to stop the fermentation or when fermentation get stuck, you have to take action and get the process going again. Our red juice/wine is in malo-lactic fermentation at the moment, meaning that malic acid is 'turned into' lactic acid. Halfway we checked the several acid levels and had to conclude that the acidity was not at high enough level to produce a good wine. So, here comes the (future) winemaker in view to 'fix' problems in time to make an agreeable product in the bottle.


Earlier this week the student association had raised the issue of the lack of living allowances for all students and were running a 'soup kitchen' at the campus. This attracted interest from the media and led to an article in the Marlborough Express under the heading: "Students say grades suffer from debt". Following is part from this article:
"Anita Van Hofwegen said she wanted to do a further year of study, but was unsure whether she could because of the impact it would have on her loan. "I can't life off the student loan and can't get the student allowance so I have to work as well as doing my course. Having to work has definitely affected my grades," she said".
Until now - apart from the scholarship from the Marlborough Wine Growers - I have not received any further sponsorships.

Since I am around Blenheim a bit during holiday and work has slowed down, I take the time to work on some of my assignments and do some catch-up reading for the upcoming weeks and on my special subject: "Organics and Bio-Dynamics". Furthermore, we have to start pruning in a few weeks time and this is supposed to be physically pretty hard work. We have been warned to start with some stretching excercises and to be sure we are fit. Since my body is already a bit older than 20-25 years it really is necessary to get my body in good condition and therefore I started going to the gym. I will only be able to do this for a short time (budget) and then I have to keep fit with the vineyard work itself.

As you will probably understand, I am a bit busy and today I have even been working with my hands in the cow poo!!......... but more about that next time when I have some pictures to go with that. Now, I am heading to Wellington for a short break.


Cheers,

Anita